1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lawn care equipment, and particularly to an air-powered rotary rake that can be attached to a leaf blower or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well know in the art of lawn maintenance to use high volume pressurized air yard blowers to blow away grass clippings, shrubbery clippings, yard debris and the like. Such air yard blowers are commonly used for the purpose of gathering tree leaves. Under normal conditions, an air yard blower can be used to gather leaves easily by moving them with a stream of high-pressure air. Such blowers are particularly useful in the removal of freshly fallen leaves that are supported above the ground on underlying blades of grass. These leaves are easily lifted by the air exiting an air yard blower nozzle. However, under some conditions, air yard blowers suffer deficiencies in gathering leaves. The conventional air yard blower's efficiency suffers, at least in part, due to the absence of a mechanical means to free leaves that become entangled between blades of grass.
While large leaves are generally supported by underlying blades of grass, small or thin leaves settle between blades of grass. Even the stems of large leaves sometimes become entangled between blades of grass, thus making their removal with an air yard blower difficult. When the stem of a large leaf is entangled between blades of grass, the operator of an air yard blower may attempt to free the leaf by increasing the blower's airflow. Increasing the airflow, however, may cause the leaf to be pressed against the ground or to just spin about its entangled stem. In such situations, the leaves are incapable of being swept away by the air yard blower.
Typical air yard blowers are often inefficient in leaf removal in the further situation of leaves that have piled on top of one other. These leaves become heavy and have a tendency to stick together and also stick to the grass. This tendency to stick increases when there is moisture present from rain or dew and is further increased when moisture freezes. Often, when sticking occurs, the air stream from a blower will be incapable of moving the leaves.
Also, conventional blowers tend to be inefficient in removal of yard debris when rocks, bark, vegetation or flowering plants, bird droppings, sticks and other natural and foreign matter are present. Further, since many ground coverings include vegetation that has large leaves, it is easy for fallen leaves to become caught between them. Furthermore, shrubbery leaves are generally smaller than leaves from trees and often settle on ground covering during trimming. In such situations, and in the presence of material such as heavy sticks, tangled weeds, dried bird droppings and the like, it is often impossible to remove leaves and other yard debris with the pressurized air generated by the blower alone. It would be desirable to provide a mechanical removal means in combination with the pressurized air in order to aid in the removal of yard debris. Thus, an air-powered rotary rake solving the aforementioned problems is desired.